Compression methods and apparatus for occlusion data

An apparatus for processing occlusion data in a sequence of video data frames, said apparatus comprising an encoder configured to:

• determine a format for said occlusion data, said format selected from one of a sparse occlusion data format and a filled occlusion data format;
• when said format for said occlusion data is determined to be said filled occlusion data format, the encoder converts said occlusion data into a sparse occlusion data format before encoding;
• encode said occlusion data to produce encoded occlusion data;
• and
• transmit said encoded occlusion data together with an indicator representative of said format determined for said occlusion data to a receiver.

A method for processing occlusion data in a sequence of video data frames, said method comprising:

• extracting an indicator representative of an original format for received occlusion data, said original format selected from a one of a sparse occlusion data format and a filled occlusion data format;
• decoding said received occlusion data to produce decoded occlusion data;
• and when said indicator indicates said original format as a filled occlusion data format,
• converting said decoded occlusion data from a sparse occlusion data format to said filled occlusion data format, said converting further comprising replacing non-occlusion area data, which is represented with a defined characteristic, by respective collocated samples from 2D data in said video data frame associated with said occlusion data;
• outputting said decoded occlusion data and, when present, converted decoded occlusion data.

An apparatus for processing occlusion data in a sequence of video data frames, said apparatus comprising a decoder configured to:

• extract an indicator representative of an original format for received occlusion data, said original format selected from a one of a sparse occlusion data format and a filled occlusion data format;
• decode said received occlusion data to produce decoded occlusion data;
• and when said indicator indicates said original format as a filled occlusion data format,
• convert said decoded occlusion data from a sparse occlusion data format to said filled occlusion data format, said converting further including;
• replace non-occlusion area data, which is represented with a defined characteristic, by respective collocated samples from 2D data in said video data frame associated with said occlusion data;
• output said decoded occlusion data and, when present, converted decoded occlusion data.